A New Dawn: An Advent Reflection by the Carmelite Nuns of Thicket Priory in Yorkshire

For information about the Carmelite Nuns of Thicket Priory, visit their website here.

The Single Most Objectionable Thing About the EU (In a Crowded Field)

In our humble opinion, the brilliant Daniel Hannan is a man that Great Britain and the world needs as British Prime Minister.

By Daniel Hannan

Shall I tell you the worst thing about the EU? It’s not the waste or the corruption or the Michelin-starred lifestyles of its leaders. It’s not the contempt for voters or the readiness to swat referendum results aside. It’s not the way that multi-nationals and NGOs and all manner of corporate interests are privileged over consumers. It’s not the pettifogging rules that plague small employers. It’s not the Common Agricultural Policy or the Common Fisheries Policy. It’s not the anti-Britishness or the anti-Americanism. It’s not even the way in which the euro is inflicting preventable poverty on tens of millions of southern Europeans.

No, it’s something more objectionable than any of these things – and something which, bizarrely, doesn’t exercise us nearly as much as it should. Put simply, it’s this: the EU makes up the rules as it goes along.

Just think, for a moment, about what that means. It means that any deal you’ve signed can be arbitrarily altered later. It means that any plans you’ve made, on the basis of what you took to be binding agreements, can be retrospectively destroyed. It means, in short, that there is no effective rule of law.

Happy Thanksgiving and May God Richly Bless You, Friends, Today and Always

The Prayer of an Unknown Confederate Soldier

I asked for strength that I might achieve;
I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey.
I asked for health that I might do greater things;
I was given infirmity that I might do better things.
I asked for riches that I might be happy;
I was given poverty that I might be wise.
I asked for power that I might have the praise of men;
I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.
I asked for all things that I might enjoy life;
I was given life that I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing that I asked for but everything that I had hoped for.
Almost despite myself my unspoken prayers were answered,
I am, among all men, most richly blessed.

 

Winston Churchill's Thanksgiving Message to America in 1944

Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill's message acknowledging America's Thanksgiving and her contribution to the war.

The Obamunist Rap: "If You Like Your Plan You Can Keep It"

Obama Continues Assault on Catholic Church, Moves to Close Vatican Embassy

Barack Hussein Obama's ongoing assault on the Catholic Church is doomed to failure and will ultimately discredit and undo the inept, Indonesian immigrant who illegitimately occupies the White House.  From Diocletian to Hussein Obama, persecutors have an astonishingly unbroken record of failure in their attempts to destroy the Church.  It can also be amusing to see all the many ways Obama drives his approval ratings down to historic lows.  Unfortunately, with his utter disregard for the Constitution, Obama and comrades will likely become more dangerous and destructive as his political situation deteriorates.  Now he is attempting to reverse another of President Reagan's initiatives - the US-Vatican partnership which facilitated the collapse of Soviet communism.

Obama’s call to close Vatican embassy is ‘slap in the face’ to Roman Catholics

The Obama administration, in what’s been called an egregious slap in the face to the Vatican, has moved to shut down the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See — a free-standing facility — and relocate offices onto the grounds of the larger American Embassy in Italy.

The new offices will be in a separate building on the property, Breitbart reported.

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SEE ALSO: Pope Francis takes veiled swipe at ‘progressive’ Democrats

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And while U.S. officials are touting the relocation as a security measure that’s a cautionary reaction to last year’s attacks on America's facility in Benghazi, several former American envoys are raising the red flag.

It’s a “massive downgrade of U.S.-Vatican ties,” said former U.S. Ambassador James Nicholson in the National Catholic Reporter. “It’s turning this embassy into a stepchild of the embassy to Italy. The Holy See is a pivot point for international affairs and a major listening post for the United States, and … [it’s] an insult to American Catholics and to the Vatican.”

Read more at The Washington Times >>

Renewing Faith and Culture: An Introduction to Thomas Aquinas College

In the past forty years, some truly excellent Catholic colleges have been founded and are renewing the Church, sparking a boom in priestly and religious vocations,  providing a solid foundation for healthy, faith-filled Catholic families, and equipping disciples with the tools needed to plant anew a Christian culture.  The following video provides a look at one of the very best of these new colleges.